"You have made it crystal clear that you prevail over us. So, get to the point already." urged 101.
"Fine," said 71. "Since I discovered the encyclopedias, I went to the library for the past three days to further research. There I saw other kids from our class discussing similar topics. They whispered, but I could easily decipher their words. 'Traits,' they argued whether comparing the similar traits among us and the sentient beings, is something worth doing or not?"
101 leaned back, "Arguments? I can imagine the arguments they could have stumbled upon. They must have likely tried to find a link between the hair or eye colour with the colour of a sentient being's eyes or the nature of their environment."
71 gave 101 a sharp look. "You're right. One argued that someone with blue eyes would align with a sentient being living in a cold place. Another seemed to disagree."
"Hey, I have blue eyes," said 18, pointing towards her bright-blue eyes filled with excitement.
"About that. After pondering for a while, I concluded that eye or hair colour is useless in trying to find compatibility," said 71.
"wha…" 18 seemed disheartened. After all, she was proud of her eyes as it was only her who possessed blue eyes.
"In the library, I observed other kids. Nearly all of us have a similar body build. The only thing that differentiates us is the facial bone structure, the hair, and the eyes. However, most possess black hair and black eyes. Very few possess something different, like 18 with her blue eyes, or 178 with her lavender eyes, or me with silver hair. At least according to what I noticed."
"That's quite imperceptive of you," said 18. "Remember the guy you punched? 50? His eyes are amber, and some shards of his hair are sapphire. 84, has brown eyes. 82's hair is bronze-red. 178's hair's white. I can name more with distinguishable colors."
"Is that so?" asked 71. "I never cared about how anyone looked until three days ago when I figured remembering descriptions might come in handy. Still, I'm certain the color of the eyes or hair has nothing to do with compatibility."
"Never cared or never noticed? As someone who notices things others fail to notice, don't tell me you fail to notice even the simplest things that everyone can distinguish?" asked 18 mockingly.
"You would think that statement would provoke me." 71 met her remark with a calm and collected voice. "But no matter what you say. I won't act. I'll simply wait for the day when you realize my value. And rest assured that day will come."
"It's exactly that prid—" 18's voice got stuck in her throat when 101 increased the grip strength around 18's shoulder. Thus she let out a yelp.
"Aw. That hurt!"
"You know, 18, if you feel someone in front of you is conceited, don't you think the best course of action might just be to not-provoke him and save time from any meaningless arguments," said 101, his grip still tight around 18's shoulders.
"Ok, ok. Let go!" cried 18.
101 loosened his grip and retracted his arm.
"I'm not conceited." said 71 in a sharp manner.
"How about we return to why you think eyes and hair color are useless?" 101 asked in an exhausted tone.
"Why?—common sense. I leafed through over 20 books and looked solely for physical descriptions of the beings. Thus, I realized that colors like blue, lavender, and lava, which are rare for us, are common for sentient beings. Out of the 20, 8 had blue eyes, 5 had lava eyes, and none had black eyes. Meanwhile, most of us possess black eyes, including you and I," 71 continued. "Let's say there are sentient beings with black eyes. There would be surely no more than 10-20. There are over 100 manuals. And we are compatible with only one of them. I am certain out of 60 kids in our class, over 40 have black eyes."
"45," said 18. "There are exactly 45 with black eyes." Her voice was calm and pleasant this time.
"As for whether hair has relevance or not, I can neither claim nor disclaim it." 71 shrugged. "But, now, the fact which all have yet to notice—"
101 and 18 listened in anticipation. 71's eyes fell towards his arm, "It was some days ago that I broke my fist. You broke yours too." His head jerked towards 101. "Mine took a night—half a day to heal. Yours took two full days. I was always curious as to why that happened. Since that day, I began to notice how others compared to my own resilience. Luckily, the ones who used the training room were inevitably injured. I realized others did not recover fast. I observed for three days. Even their light bruises were not healed."
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At the same time
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In the training room
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The breezy water rained down the waterfall. Tiny droplets brushed past a boy's white skin and robe. Due time, his bronze-red hair and cloth got wet by the droplets, yet 82 stood adamant. With his obsidian black eyes, he keenly observed the waterfall—patiently waiting.
"You do realize," said 84. He sat just steps away from where 82 stood. Just far enough so that the water drops didn't reach him and soak the book he currently held. "Day after day, the number of people who enter this room, keeps on declining," he sat on the stony ground with his leg crossed and leafed through a book while speaking. "Aren't you going to do something..about that? you know."
82's eyes still remained engrossed towards the waterfall, "Why?" 82 asked.
"…I assumed you were all about unity and helping others and some other bullshit?" he flipped a page. "So, why not act now?"
"And you believe compelling them to do something they distaste would be an act of kindness?" 82 asked.
"Distaste? Strange choice of word." 84 chuckled. "After all, just days ago, when they all saw this room for the first time, they were all brimming with excitement. But now….in fact, I think it would be an act of kindness—to drive them out of their comfort zones and pressure them to train." The smile on his face disappeared, "After all, do you ever think about the place we were born in? About our purpose?"
"Every day," 82's eyes wavered for only a moment. "even before I learned to read, I questioned myself. At the time, I didn't understand the questions I asked myself. It was only when I started to read books that I understood a crucial thing about 'Reason and Purpose'"
Steam started to rise from behind the waterfall.
"The very first story I read was about a general who led a march against the Rulldemons, alongside his 1000 soldiers. At the time, I wondered, what makes a leader? And what makes a follower? Now, I realize its 'reason' Those kids who prefer to remain at the library or waste their time doing trivial things lack the sense of reason that drives those who choose to remain in this room."
He foresaw such an outcome when he assigned the task of researching compatibility to the rankers and declared that the results would be shared among everyone. He realized those who thought of themselves as less clever than others would feel relieved. They would realize that even if they didn't do anything, they would still be able to avoid punishment after a month due to the hard work of the rankers. Thus, they would lose their reason to invest their time in any actual task.
The slithery edges of the waterfall started to turn red.
"Those who felt excited when they saw this room were the ones who read tales and legends of warriors from the books. They admired or at least wanted to be like them. Like heroes in tales, they must have wanted to be strong, admired, and praised, but when they experienced pain—when in this room, their flesh tore, their skin burnt, their bones cracked. Their fantasy shattered. They became a devotee to the one who they could rely on."
The hot steam from the waterfall engulfed the entire room. 84 closed his book.
"I disagree." 84 abruptly stood up. "not completely, but your view of life is just too simply flawed."
"That is why I keep you around."—82 stretched his palm towards the raining water, which resembled lava more than typical water.— "After all, if I do not have someone trying to stab my back, given the opportune moment, I might just lose my reason to endure." The heat burned away his palm's skin before even physical contact. Flaring droplets met his hair and skin. The burning sensation passed from his palm to his entire body, chilling even his bones. His skin boiled, yet he clenched his teeth and submerged his arm in the blazing waterfall.
84, right before leaving the room, whispered, "Dreams do not die easy."
-
At the same time
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In the kitchen
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101 hopped off his desk and strolled towards a wooden slab. He'd found 71's explanation a bit worrisome.
It began some days ago when 71 compared his recuperation with other kids. At the time, he had observed a particular boy in the library. Both of the kid's arms were severely burned, one slightly burned more than the other. The kid even struggled to flip the book pages. However, by the time he finished skimming through 3 books, the boy's arms were already healed.
71 was taken back by not the recovery speed but how the more severely burned and the less severely burned took the exact time to recover. A hypothesis birthed in his mind. Thus, he decided to experiment.
The first thing he did was bathe his right arm in the flames emitted by the iron stove in the kitchen. He wanted to recheck his healing time, but he discovered fire couldn't burn his skin.
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"One more evidence of me being superior," added 71.
A vein bulged in 18's forehead.
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Since fire couldn't burn his skin, he took a knife and made two cuts on his palm. One cut was intense, while the other was more of a scratch.
Then, he observed. Both of those cuts took precisely half a day to heal. The severity of the wound did not affect the recovery time.
He sought more books from the library to understand why this happened. There he stumbled upon the 'Red Moon Cycle.'
The Red Moon Cycle consisted of 7 phases. Each phase would last for different periods.
The 7th phase lasted for five days, the 6th lasted for four days, the 5th lasted for three days, the 4th lasted for two full days, the 3rd lasted for one whole day, the 2nd lasted for half a day, and the 1st didn't have a fixed period. It could last anywhere from half a day to just a second.
"The book itself didn't mention any relation about the moon cycles and recovery, but for the last five days, I observed different kids. The rate at which the kids recovered matched the moon cycles," said 71.
"Wait. wait." 18 interrupted. "You see while cutting ingredients, my fingers often got injured. But somehow always recovered even before half a day." A smile grew on her face. "I align with the first cycle. Tell me, does that make you jealous, 71?"
71 simply scoffed at that remark, "I would have been, but unfortunately for you, that's not the only thing I found."
Even before 71 confirmed the relation between the Red Moon Cycles and recovery speed and even before he'd known about the encyclopedias. In the same book about the Red Moon Cycle, he'd found about the beings who were active in different phases of Red Moon Cycles.
There are 126 different species of such beings. The number of species active in each phase is different. At the time, he'd hypothesized that their recovery was reliant on beings rather than Red Moon Cycles itself.
When 18 told him about the encyclopedias, he confirmed his hypothesis after all the beings active on the Red Moon Cycles were the Sentient Beings.
"Since birth, we are all related with one Sentient Being, which is why we can form a Link with the species of only that very being."
"Does that book about 'Red Moon Cycle' mention which Sentient being falls in which cycle?" 101 asked as he rummaged through one of the kitchen shelves.
"It does." 71 poured a cup of tea for himself. "Robert said there were over 100 manuals. Considering there are 126 species of Sentient beings, there should be exactly 126 manuals. And with the help of the Red Moon Cycles, we can narrow down the numbers. I belong in the 2nd phase, and according to the book, there are only 15 species active in that phase."
"And, let me guess, you found a way to narrow down the numbers further and find the manual you're compatible with?" 18 asked. She flipped the page of the book she currently read. By now, she had already completed reading half the book.
"Of course," 17 smirked, "No way narrowing down to 15 could have satisfied me."